iPhone's are some of the mot sought after devices in the world. Among the owners, hundreds of iPhone's are stolen every day. How many people actually get them back? A good percentage, but not nearly as many as they should. Apple offers iCloud, a system that serves you with Find My iPhone so that you can find your missing iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a Google Map. Unfortunately, they serve you with very minimal options and the ability to catch the thief is often impossible or difficult. Developer Itay, has come up with a handy, iOS 5-compatible jailbreak application that allows you to find your jailbroken iDevice after it has been stolen. The application is brand new and it's called iCaughtU Pro. This may sound familiar. Last month we reported on a jailbreak application known as iGotYa which helped a mother retrieve her stolen iPhone 4. These jailbreak applications that help you find your device are serious, and they do work. iGotYa is living proof.

iCaughtU Pro is compatible with iOS 5 and requires that your iDevice have a pass code. The application needs the pass code because when someone enters a wrong pass code, the application will take a picture of the user using the front-facing camera, then email the picture to you, along with the address/location of the device, time of false input, a Google Map, and a text message alert. You can even set a message to display on the stolen device. For example, "I caught you." This will certainly put a scare into the criminal. Not only can you have it happen via pass code, but you can have it happen when the device is powered down. This means that you will get to see the user and the location of the device as it is being powered down, before it's powered down. This way you can catch your thief even though the device was stolen and turned off (it takes a picture and shares the location right before shutting off). The settings can be seen below:

Then, when it's stolen, you get your email:

I highly recommend this tweak to anyone with a jailbroken iDevice. It just might save you from losing your precious iDevice forever. You will also have all of the information that you need to contact authorities because you will have a picture of the thief as well as their location. You can simply walk up to the police station and show them this information and they will be able to pursue the thief. Great job, Itay!

I talked to Itay via email and asked him a little about the application and him as a developer:

Anthony: What was it that made you come up with the idea to make this application?Itay: Here in Uruguay, security is a big problem and probably also in other places of the world, so the best way that come to my mind to avoid stolen devices is to take a picture of the thief.

Anthony: Are you planning any major updates to the application?Itay: I have some ideas for it like Video and Audio Recording or Alarms, I hope to be able to add all of them, but if users have more features to request I would be happy to receive them.

Anthony: What other things have you previously made for iDevices?Itay: I have made some other tweak and apps, not all of them released. My favorites are ZoomIsBack!, iRepo, SpyPhoto, FakePercent and AllMail. If you want to see all my released tweaks/apps you can enter: Itaysoft

Anthony: Are you working on anything special at this point in time?Itay: I have lot of ideas for other tweaks, some of them will some will thrive and some won't. Hopefully this Summer (for me and Southern Hemisphere or Winter for Northern Hemisphere) I will be able to release lots of tweaks.

The Giveaway!

Itay was generous enough to give away FIVE copies of iCaughtU Pro.

Here's how to win:

Follow me @BouchardAnthony
Follow ModMyi @modmyi
Retweet this article with your Cydia number in the tweet; if you do not have the Cydia number in your tweet, you will be disqualified from the drawing. Within the tweet you must also mention @BouchardAnthony so that I can easily see who has entered the drawing. If you don't mention me, you will also be disqualified. The tweet must include the following text, "I entered a contest to win iCaughtU Pro for iPhone!"

For some extra browning points in winning, leave a comment below on how iCaughtU Pro could be improved with your Twitter Handle included in the comment.

Accidents happen dude. Not everyone has their phone on their minds at all times. That's why these things happen...no need to be judgmental and call someone irresponsible for misplacing their phone.

Obviously it's happened to you already, that's the only reason I see that you would pick that one part of my comment and get defensive. you just called your own self out on this buddy. I didn't call a name. I didn't even make "judgement". It was a question. You read my posted thought, you got prematurely "judgmental" and took it personally.

You sound like an excellent iphone thief. To be fair, yeah someone could do all that, assuming that they know anything about iPhones and DFU mode. Assuming that they even know about Find my iPhone. Witch they probably dont. More then likely, when somebody either steals, or finds an iPhone, the first thing that they are going to try to do is unlock and rummage through it. And even if they are smart enough to shut down, eject sim card, and restore(technically they dont have to DFU restore), it doesnt hurt to have an extra layer of protection that apple does not offer. Plus the tweak takes a picture and logs the locations while they are shutting down.

Haha. Nope, not a thief, but I'm not stupid. Alot of people who steal these at bars and such do know how to circumvent security. Kinda like how car thieves know how to get around car alarms. DFU is needed if the device is password protected. iTunes won't let you restore until you enter the password.

You sound like an excellent iphone thief. To be fair, yeah someone could do all that, assuming that they know anything about iPhones and DFU mode. Assuming that they even know about Find my iPhone. Witch they probably dont. More then likely, when somebody either steals, or finds an iPhone, the first thing that they are going to try to do is unlock and rummage through it. And even if they are smart enough to shut down, eject sim card, and restore(technically they dont have to DFU restore), it doesnt hurt to have an extra layer of protection that apple does not offer. Plus the tweak takes a picture and logs the locations while they are shutting down.

Actually the high, that is very high number of jailbreakers leads me to believe they do know DFU and how to use it.

I tried the free version, it has a bug where it'll make any app's screen when launched miniature and unable to navigate (even Settings or Cydia). Probably conflicts with another tweak I have installed or something. Had to respring into Safe Mode, start up Cydia and delete the app. I believe the pro version said it fixed a bug, maybe that's the bug it fixed.I'm running iOS 5.0 via the tethered jailbreak on an iPhone 4.

I tried the free version, it has a bug where it'll make any app's screen when launched miniature and unable to navigate (even Settings or Cydia). Probably conflicts with another tweak I have installed or something. Had to respring into Safe Mode, start up Cydia and delete the app. I believe the pro version said it fixed a bug, maybe that's the bug it fixed.I'm running iOS 5.0 via the tethered jailbreak on an iPhone 4.

I haven't had any problems like that with the Pro version. Check that one out if you're interested.

This looks cool and all for the stupid criminal that steals your iPhone out of your pocket or finds it left at the movie theater. Sadly it looks easy to overcome to those of us in the iCommunity. I won't go into details of at least the 3 ways I could think of to bypass this. Thankfully most people who steal are too stupid to think of these things.

Yawnzorz. Call me when a dev let's you password lock the ability to put the device in DFU. Find an iPhone? Power off. Remove SIM. Go home. Launch iTunes on computer. DFU. Restore.

What does this cute picture taking app do to prevent this? Nothing. No SIM? No location. No password attempt? No picture. $5 wasted, iPhone just as stolen as ever.

Want security? Code an app that prevents DFU without password. Also, make a website. Log in, report it lost/stolen, and no matter the SIM in the device, the phone constantly "phones home" GPS data, even if only on WiFi. Combine these features with the picture capture feature and the fact that VZW and Sprint ban ESN numbers and AT&T is cracking down heavily on ECID numbers will greatly improve the security.

But, I suppose this works against the run of the mill crackhead.

That would actually be impossible. DFU mode is hardcoded in the device; it can't be stopped.

That would actually be impossible. DFU mode is hardcoded in the device; it can't be stopped.

Yes it can. Take a screwdriver to the device, remove either of the two buttons. You can use jailbreak tweaks such as multitasking gestures, or SBSettings to power off or go home/in between apps instead.

The best security app IMO, would be a method of password protecting DFU abilities. Add to that a server side method of reporting it lost from any browser. Doing so would block SSH abilities, the launching of any app, charging, 32 pin connectivity and prevent powering off, without password. DFU would be locked by default. WiFi would auto enable and auto join networks in the background and GPS data would phone home to the server discretely. Keep the ability to send messages should you choose to or snap pics remotely if connected to cell or wifi. Remote one way FaceTime with sound and ability to record would be nice as well. Basically, the ability to discretely track and view the perp. And as soon as you report it lost or stolen, the phone would be a useless brick, unable to be restored or accessed in any way without your password. This, if done widespread by Apple and other phone makers, it would effectively make phone theft pointless. Tons of coding, if possible.

Yes it can. Take a screwdriver to the device, remove either of the two buttons. You can use jailbreak tweaks such as multitasking gestures, or SBSettings to power off or go home/in between apps instead.

Well I meant it is impossible to stop it with software. As long as all the hardware is unmodified no tweak is going to stop the device from going into DFU mode.

I've got the free version and it works okay. It does a good job of taking the picture, but the GPS coordinates are usually off by half a mile or so. The other day I accidentally typed my password wrong and the email I received said I was in the middle of a lake some 75 miles away!

I've got the free version and it works okay. It does a good job of taking the picture, but the GPS coordinates are usually off by half a mile or so. The other day I accidentally typed my password wrong and the email I received said I was in the middle of a lake some 75 miles away!

Are you using Wi-Fi positioning? A GPS device could have a bad signal and give you an inaccurate reading.